Tom Udall: “I very much appreciate being joined on the floor by my colleagues at this critical time in history. Senator Shaheen just…”

“I very much appreciate being joined on the floor by my colleagues at this critical time in history. Senator Shaheen just spoke. We also had Senator Murray and Senator Leahy down here. This issue will come to a head tomorrow. We are really at a crossroads. This body can continue to allow the President to subvert our constitutional authority to appropriate, or we can take back our power of the purse and exercise it as the Founders intended. The issue before us is not partisan; it is constitutional. If we don't put the Constitution above party, above politics, we might as well pack up our bags and go home. The voters did not send us here to shirk our responsibilities. History will not be kind to us if we allow the Executive to run roughshod over our constitutional authority. For the second time, we have introduced a bipartisan resolution to terminate the President's national emergency declaration along our southern border. I thank Senators Collins and Shaheen for once again joining this resolution and affirming their commitment to the Constitution. Our first vote on this resolution in March passed 59 to 41. We had strong bipartisan support because the President's emergency declaration is clearly an end run around Congress. We have the power to bring this resolution back every 6 months. I hope we can add to our majority this time because what were once fears about a so-called emergency in March have become a stark reality in September.…”